Not Without Laughter

2020 Reprint of the 1930 Edition. Hughes award-winning first novel about a black boys coming-of-age in a largely white Kansas town. When first published in 1930 Not Without Laughter established Langston Hughes as not only a brilliant poet and leading light of the Harlem Renaissance but also a gifted novelist. In telling the story of Sandy Rogers a young African American boy in small-town Kansas and of his family--his mother Annjee a housekeeper for a wealthy white family; his irresponsible father Jimboy who plays the guitar and travels the country in search of employment; his strong-willed grandmother Hager who clings to her faith; his Aunt Tempy who marries a rich man; and his Aunt Harriet who struggles to make it as a blues singer--Hughes gives the longings and lineaments of black life in the early twentieth century an important place in the history of racially divided America.